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Cute story ...
New York Today: Beneath the Big Foam Head
A rare glimpse inside the Orange. Nick Lisi/Associated Press
Happy Friday!
A rabble-rousing turkey. A naughty clergyman. A combative leprechaun.
As college basketball players compete this weekend for fame and glory at the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in Brooklyn and the Big East tournament in Midtown Manhattan, a group of athletes alongside them will end the season in complete anonymity: the mascots.
Sure, they rile crowds, needle opponents and channel a game’s emotional thrust into abstract, wordless performances for thousands of fans. But often, the people inside the suits must hide their true identities from even their closest friends.
We contacted a few of the current and former mascots at the tournaments, and after some serious journalistic negotiating, they agreed to go on the record about life behind the mask.
“It’s very secretive,” said Isaac Clark, who until last year played the role of Otto the Orange, the hyperactive anthropomorphic fruit that represents the spirit of Syracuse.
The process involved in choosing that upstate university’s mascot is very hush-hush, but the gist is, You don’t choose Otto — Otto chooses you.
Once selected, Mr. Clark was asked to follow the “rule of five”: During his time as Otto, he was allowed to tell only five people (aside from family).
“I was telling white lies, literally all the time,” he said.
The mascot team — there are typically several students who play the role — would often meet to trade “excuses,” Mr. Clark said.
Sweating in a meeting after practice? Intense gym session. Disappeared at game time? Econ class. Got home late at night? Long date.
It’s also important to make sure the character is not rubbing off on you, said Spencer Godine, a senior at the University of Virginia.
He plays Cavman, the school’s muscular, goateed cavalier, who beats his chest and has swagger to spare.
He’s been told he moves like Cavman by friends who suspect he might be the mascot, and often has to check himself: “Oh wait, am I dancing like Cavman now?”
Living a double life can be tough, but the anonymity is one of the best parts of the job, the mascots said.
Not so much for the fibbing, Mr. Godine said, but because “it’s selfless.”
“I don’t want it to be about me,” he said. “I want it to be about something that’s bigger than myself.”
The A.C.C. semifinal matches begin at Barclays Center at 7 tonight, and the Big East semifinal games tip off at Madison Square Garden at 6:30 p.m.
New York Today: Beneath the Big Foam Head
A rare glimpse inside the Orange. Nick Lisi/Associated Press
Happy Friday!
A rabble-rousing turkey. A naughty clergyman. A combative leprechaun.
As college basketball players compete this weekend for fame and glory at the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in Brooklyn and the Big East tournament in Midtown Manhattan, a group of athletes alongside them will end the season in complete anonymity: the mascots.
Sure, they rile crowds, needle opponents and channel a game’s emotional thrust into abstract, wordless performances for thousands of fans. But often, the people inside the suits must hide their true identities from even their closest friends.
We contacted a few of the current and former mascots at the tournaments, and after some serious journalistic negotiating, they agreed to go on the record about life behind the mask.
“It’s very secretive,” said Isaac Clark, who until last year played the role of Otto the Orange, the hyperactive anthropomorphic fruit that represents the spirit of Syracuse.
The process involved in choosing that upstate university’s mascot is very hush-hush, but the gist is, You don’t choose Otto — Otto chooses you.
Once selected, Mr. Clark was asked to follow the “rule of five”: During his time as Otto, he was allowed to tell only five people (aside from family).
“I was telling white lies, literally all the time,” he said.
The mascot team — there are typically several students who play the role — would often meet to trade “excuses,” Mr. Clark said.
Sweating in a meeting after practice? Intense gym session. Disappeared at game time? Econ class. Got home late at night? Long date.
It’s also important to make sure the character is not rubbing off on you, said Spencer Godine, a senior at the University of Virginia.
He plays Cavman, the school’s muscular, goateed cavalier, who beats his chest and has swagger to spare.
He’s been told he moves like Cavman by friends who suspect he might be the mascot, and often has to check himself: “Oh wait, am I dancing like Cavman now?”
Living a double life can be tough, but the anonymity is one of the best parts of the job, the mascots said.
Not so much for the fibbing, Mr. Godine said, but because “it’s selfless.”
“I don’t want it to be about me,” he said. “I want it to be about something that’s bigger than myself.”
The A.C.C. semifinal matches begin at Barclays Center at 7 tonight, and the Big East semifinal games tip off at Madison Square Garden at 6:30 p.m.
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